


aspects of the infernal arms

by divine_chicken



Category: Hades (Video Game 2018)
Genre: Gen, Warning for Chaos's dream being trippy as fuck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:20:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27610601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/divine_chicken/pseuds/divine_chicken
Summary: the shield of chaos, the heart-seeking bow, the eternal spear.zagreus sees dreams of the weapons' past wielders and their memories.
Kudos: 48





	aspects of the infernal arms

He knows that his infernal arms contain the memories of their past wielders, realistically, but only begins to realize the full effect of them when he goes to sleep.

The first weapon he'd chosen had been Coronacht, the heart-seeking bow. And though the dream is blurry, he can make out bits and pieces, here and there, from what he can only assume is the eyes of its past wielders: he sees a babe cradled in his hands, and something in his chest stings with sorrow when the cloud-bearded man drags the child away from his arms and off their mountaintop.

The dream shifts, and he sees two little children at his feet. The blond one is swift as a bolt, the little thing, and he smiles up at Zagreus as if the world is his. His friend is more mellow, dark skin and hair that's darker yet. He looks up at Zagreus respectfully, and Zagreus thinks he recognizes someone he can't quite pinpoint in the way blond boy runs.

He takes up the shield of Chaos after that, and more specifically, the one Chaos originally wielded. He knows, realistically, that it's a powerful and terrifying thing, but he's not ready for the dreams that follow.  
If Coronacht bore simple memories, then the Shield of Chaos is much, much more than that; the ever-seeing eye upon it must contain a bit of Chaos themselves in it, Zagreus is sure, for that's the only explanation for what he sees.   
He remembers falling, and falling, and falling yet, the darkness shifting and drifting and morphing all around him, cards with shapes etched upon them that become all-seeing eyes, then hands, then tendrils, and he falls, deeper and deeper still, until he doesn't remember who he is, where or what his body is.  
He doesn't choose Chaos's original shield, instead opting for a hero Achilles referred to as "Beowulf". The fact that Zagreus can bear weapons belonging to those in the future isn't something his mind can quite grasp, but he decides to take the weapon regardless.   
He sees dreams in a language he doesn't recognize yet somehow understands, he sees a gigantic lizard ( a dragon, his - Beowulf's? - subconscious supplies, ) he sees a heavy and bright sword in his hand, and he feels a sense of glory when said sword ( Nægling, he hears himself call it ) pierces through the dragon's heart. And though the dream is odd and unusual, it is somehow much tamer than the one Chaos gave him.

The next weapon he settles on is Varatha, the eternal spear. Golden and bright and glorious, it feels at home in Achilles's grasp, but when Zagreus holds it, he asks himself if he's doing it a disservice. Bearing a weapon of someone so close to you is so different from holding something a distant deity or a centaur held. Even so, he welcomes the bright spear in his palm, and with Athena on his shoulder and Artemis by his side, he wrestles out of the Underworld's icy grasp once more.  
When he falls asleep that night, the first thing he notices is the excess of blood. Blood, _everywhere_ , all over the bright green field around him, blood thick and heavy, so heavy that it paints the river before him red.   
The river God ( Scamander, someone whispers ) is towering above him, a tree severed from the bright and bloody land in his primordial hand. Something bubbles within him, and what Zagreus feels knows isn't his own. What he feels is overbearing rage, seething and boiling within his chest, and a roar rips itself out of his ribs so gutturally that Zagreus wonders if he's even able to produce such a sound.  
He will notice, then, that red of his bloodied hands will mingle with the river god's golden ichor, that he will cross the river, that he will finally murder the man he's been hunting in his rage, yet not even that will calm him down, hollowing his chest out instead, like a man carving a crab out of his little shell.

( When he wakes up, the first thing he does is give Achilles a big hug, and Achilles smiles at him in confusion, but Zagreus only hugs him tighter, but he'll never tell him why. )

( Chaos will smile at him with a snakesmile.   
" What you saw was a bit much for you, I take, child of Hades?" 

Zagreus will sit there in awkward silence.

" Do not worry, I am not offended. Besides, I can only begine to imagine how your simple eyes must've processed what you saw. " )


End file.
